Kei Nomaguchi, assistant professor, was among five finalists chosen for the 2006 Kanter Award. The award is named for Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who has been identified by leading scholars as the person having the most influence on the modern research literature on work and family. A partnership of The Center for Families at Purdue University and the Boston College Center for Work & Family, the Kanter award is given to the authors of the best piece of work-family research published during a calendar year (note that "family" is defined broadly). No external nominations are accepted for the award. Instead, every article published in a large number of scientific journals is scrutinized by a large committee of esteemed scholars who generate a list of candidates for the award.
For the 2006 Kanter award, over the winning articles were selected after reviewing more than 2500 studies published in peer-reviewed journals. In all, twenty of the “best,” five finalists, and a single winner were chosen.
Below is a summary of the Nomaguchi, Milkie and Bianchi article that was selected as one of the 5 finalists. Click here for a complete summary of the “Best of the Best.”
Time Strains and Psychological Well-Being
Do Dual-Earner Mothers and Fathers Differ?
K.
Nomaguchi, M. Milkie & S. Bianchi
Journal of Family Issues
Volume
26, 2005, pp. 756-792
Two differing views offer possible explanations of time pressures that mothers and
fathers face in spending time with each other, their children, and on their own. The
time availability perspective suggests that if men and women devote different
amounts of time to their jobs, child care, and leisure time, their time pressures will
differ. The gender perspective suggests cultural expectations for parents and spouses
are different for men than women, and that women will have different views of
time pressures than men.
Controlling for the time devoted to paid work, domestic work, child care, and their
own leisure activities, this study compared these two perspectives by assessing
dual-earner parents’ feelings of time strains and whether the link between time
strains and psychological well-being differed for mothers and fathers.
The authors used data from the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce.
Participants were dual-earner parents who had children under the age of 18. One
adult per household was interviewed, so mothers and fathers in this study came
from separate households.
The study found that the time availability perspective accurately predicted that
fathers would be more likely than mothers to report feeling that they did not spend
sufficient time with their spouse and children – fathers work more paid hours and
thus have less time available. However, gender ideologies were more useful in
explaining why mothers were more bothered than fathers by lack of time with children
while fathers were more bothered by lack of time for themselves.
These findings offer hints for work-life practitioners about workers’ possible motivations
for seeking flexible work arrangements or other supportive resources.
Mothers and fathers may have quite different motivations, which might lead to different
preferences and different outcomes.
Summary prepared by Karen Ruprecht and Shelley M. MacDermid
“…regardless of gender, not
being available for their family because of economic activities is strongly
related to dual-earner parents’ feelings of work-family conflict.”